PlanetScale

About PlanetScale

## Intro PlanetScale is a managed database platform offering Postgres and MySQL. Its MySQL product is built on Vitess, a system designed to scale MySQL horizontally. PlanetScale is best known for database branching and deploy requests, which bring a Git-style workflow to schema changes so you can test changes before they touch production. It is aimed at teams running real production workloads rather than hobby projects, with plans priced by the resources you use. For builders, it sits underneath your app: you bring the code or the AI-built backend, and PlanetScale keeps the data fast and safe. ## Key features - **Branching and deploy requests.** Create a branch of your database, change the schema, then merge it through a deploy request, much like a pull request for code. Development branch hours can be added on the Base plan. - **Postgres options.** A single-node Postgres database for development and low-traffic apps, Metal instances with local NVMe storage for speed, and a High Availability setup with one primary and two replicas across three availability zones. - **Horizontal sharding.** Vitess for MySQL and Neki for sharded Postgres let large apps spread data across many machines. - **Query monitoring.** Built-in insight into slow and expensive queries, available on every plan. ## Best for PlanetScale suits SaaS founders and technical builders whose app has outgrown a hobby database and who care about performance and safe migrations. It also fits teams building with AI coding tools that need a serious production backend, and agencies that hand over custom apps to clients and want a database that will not need replacing as usage grows. No-code builders who want a visual backend with auth and storage included will be happier with Supabase or Xano. ## Pricing summary There is no free tier on the pricing page. Postgres starts at $5 a month for a single node, and Metal starts at $50 a month. Pricing is resource-based and month to month, with no contract or sales call needed on the Base plan. MySQL pricing depends on cluster size and storage. Enterprise adds bring-your-own-cloud and stronger support. ## Quick verdict PlanetScale is a strong choice once your database matters to your business: fast, well engineered and built around safe schema changes. The $5 Postgres plan gives you a low-cost way to start. It is still a database only, without the auth, storage and APIs that all-in-one backends bundle, so expect to wire up more yourself.

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